35 Trillion Reasons Why - Redux
Up, But Down... Wal Mart, the world's largest retailer, where American does 10% of its shopping, said quarterly profit rose more than analysts estimated and boosted its full year earnings forecast.
The same store sales increase of 1.4% through October is trailing last year's gain of 2.1%, the smallest in at least 27 years.
Down & Out... Home Depot, reported lower profit and cut its full year earnings forecast by 11%.
Sales fell for a second straight quarter, the first time that's happened since 1982. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 6.2%, the sixth straight decline.
The world's largest home improvement retailer announced the postponement of $11 Billlion of a $22 Billion stock buyback.
Making the cut... The dollar has weakened 4.2% against the euro and 4.8% versus the yen after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since 2003 on Sept. 18.
Dropping the peg?... United Arab Emirates central bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi:
"We have reached a crossroads now with a further deterioration in the U.S. dollar and expected further weakening of the U.S. economy."
The UAE may join Kuwait in dropping its dollar peg.
Clue-full... Paul Kasriel at Northern Trust: "It's check for the economy now; and it's facing checkmate.
Checkmate is the dollar. Bernanke's problem is that if he cuts, the dollar will go down even more.
He may not be able to provide as much support for the economy as his predecessor."
Clue-less ... Stephen Cecchetti, professor of international economics at Brandeis University and a former research director at the New York Fed.
"Nothing leads me to suggest that there's an inflationary pass-through from dollar depreciation."
This bookbound academic says that the rule of thumb is a 10% decline in the dollar translates to a 0.1 percentage point rise per year in the consumer price index for two years.
The weak dollar "is not adding much on the inflation front and it's adding more on the growth front." Oblivious.
Get Out Often, Mr. Cecchetti?... A gallon of milk sold for an average of $3.83 last month, 21% higher YOY.
A gallon of gasoline in the last week of October cost an average of $2.90, 29% more YOY.
More lies and cluelessness... from today's BOJ statement:
"The year-on-year rate of change in consumer prices (excluding fresh food) has been around zero percent.
On the price front, the three-month rate of change in domestic corporate goods prices has been positive, mainly due to the rise in international commodity prices."
The Nattering One muses... Zero percent? nice to know we don't have the market cornered on clueless shutins or government sponsored lies.
More cuts, lower dollar, more double digit stagflation, when will the Fed's Japanese branch start cranking up the presses again?
No raise... The Bank of Japan voted 8-1 (Mizuno dissenting) to keep the country's benchmark rate unchanged...
spurring investors to sell the yen after it reached a 1-1/2 year high yesterday against the dollar.
The BOJ hasn't bought yen since 1998, when the economy was in the worst recession since World War II.
The last time the BOJ intervened in the market was in March 2004. The central bank sold a record 14.8 trillion yen ($134.3 billion) in the first quarter of that year.
The Nattering One has already gone on record regarding the BOJ printing 35 Trillion yen in order to:
1. finance (buy US Bonds) the US Treasury deficit (caused by the Bush tax cuts), at a very low rate.
2. prop up the dollar to prevent a US balance of payments crisis (buy US Dollars)
3. the combination of 1&2 kept interest rates low and prevented the US and the global economy from entering a recession.
Will history repeat itself? It usually does.
The same store sales increase of 1.4% through October is trailing last year's gain of 2.1%, the smallest in at least 27 years.
Down & Out... Home Depot, reported lower profit and cut its full year earnings forecast by 11%.
Sales fell for a second straight quarter, the first time that's happened since 1982. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 6.2%, the sixth straight decline.
The world's largest home improvement retailer announced the postponement of $11 Billlion of a $22 Billion stock buyback.
Making the cut... The dollar has weakened 4.2% against the euro and 4.8% versus the yen after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since 2003 on Sept. 18.
Dropping the peg?... United Arab Emirates central bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi:
"We have reached a crossroads now with a further deterioration in the U.S. dollar and expected further weakening of the U.S. economy."
The UAE may join Kuwait in dropping its dollar peg.
Clue-full... Paul Kasriel at Northern Trust: "It's check for the economy now; and it's facing checkmate.
Checkmate is the dollar. Bernanke's problem is that if he cuts, the dollar will go down even more.
He may not be able to provide as much support for the economy as his predecessor."
Clue-less ... Stephen Cecchetti, professor of international economics at Brandeis University and a former research director at the New York Fed.
"Nothing leads me to suggest that there's an inflationary pass-through from dollar depreciation."
This bookbound academic says that the rule of thumb is a 10% decline in the dollar translates to a 0.1 percentage point rise per year in the consumer price index for two years.
The weak dollar "is not adding much on the inflation front and it's adding more on the growth front." Oblivious.
Get Out Often, Mr. Cecchetti?... A gallon of milk sold for an average of $3.83 last month, 21% higher YOY.
A gallon of gasoline in the last week of October cost an average of $2.90, 29% more YOY.
More lies and cluelessness... from today's BOJ statement:
"The year-on-year rate of change in consumer prices (excluding fresh food) has been around zero percent.
On the price front, the three-month rate of change in domestic corporate goods prices has been positive, mainly due to the rise in international commodity prices."
The Nattering One muses... Zero percent? nice to know we don't have the market cornered on clueless shutins or government sponsored lies.
More cuts, lower dollar, more double digit stagflation, when will the Fed's Japanese branch start cranking up the presses again?
No raise... The Bank of Japan voted 8-1 (Mizuno dissenting) to keep the country's benchmark rate unchanged...
spurring investors to sell the yen after it reached a 1-1/2 year high yesterday against the dollar.
The BOJ hasn't bought yen since 1998, when the economy was in the worst recession since World War II.
The last time the BOJ intervened in the market was in March 2004. The central bank sold a record 14.8 trillion yen ($134.3 billion) in the first quarter of that year.
The Nattering One has already gone on record regarding the BOJ printing 35 Trillion yen in order to:
1. finance (buy US Bonds) the US Treasury deficit (caused by the Bush tax cuts), at a very low rate.
2. prop up the dollar to prevent a US balance of payments crisis (buy US Dollars)
3. the combination of 1&2 kept interest rates low and prevented the US and the global economy from entering a recession.
Will history repeat itself? It usually does.
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